


If You Touch Another Shirt, I Swear

by sherlocks_watson



Category: Phandom
Genre: Dan works in retail, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 16:03:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7764199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherlocks_watson/pseuds/sherlocks_watson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on an OTP prompt: “I work at a department store and if you take out and unfold another fucking shirt and just leave it, I’m going to fucking shove it down your throat”<br/>~~~<br/>Or the one where Dan's patience with a regular customer is run thin and his break down lands him a date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If You Touch Another Shirt, I Swear

**Author's Note:**

> I really don't know what this is I wrote this in 30 minutes at midnight. I just saw this prompt and I could see this play out and thought I'd share. Enjoy! <3

It’s really no secret that Dan hates his job. Sure everyone has something they don’t particularly _like_ about their job, but consider this: Dan works in retail. Every day after class he has to give himself a pep talk to “go back out there and fold some more shirts and face some more customers.” Every day his coworkers are always surprised to see him back.

And every day. Every _._ Single _._ Day _._ There are dicks, like the one he was currently making eyes at from behind a dress rack, who come into his good christian section of the department store and unfold the shirts he just set out. Normally, he would march right over and refold the shirts as loud as he could while still being passive-aggressive about the whole ordeal. But this particular customer has dashing blue eyes and swept hair that reminded Dan of his own. He decided he could let this slide once.

But then the next week, the same guy comes in and wanders a bit. _Probably deciding which shelf he’s going to wreck today,_ thought Dan bitterly. And sure enough, this man picks up a shirt, examines it, decides he doesn’t like it, and sets it down in a crumpled mess on top of the pile. Dan huffs, but refolds the top with as much patience as he has left.

This happens constantly over the course of about a month. One day, one of Dan’s female coworkers is trying to chat him up, despite his obvious boredom in the conversation. Meanwhile, as he’s nodding and smiling through his pain, he spots the same dark haired man out of the corner of his eye.

“Ehrm, um, excuse me a minute.” Dan frantically wraps up the one sided conversation and dismisses himself across the floor to where the man was standing, holding a blue button down. _Do it,_ Dan challenges him mentally, _I fucking dare you._ In slow motion, he watches the customer set the piece of clothing down and step away from it.

In his life, Dan has only snapped three times. Once in his third year of school, another time when he first started learning to drive, and finally in the middle of a date with a girl when he decided he preferred men. Now, for his line of work, Dan must have a great deal of patience dealing with unruly customers, nagging coworkers, and bossy managers. But today will be the fourth time Dan breaks.

If asked some will claim to have seen smoking coming his ears as he confronted the stranger. He is already spewing profanities under his breath, but as soon as meets the customer face to face he bites out, “If you take out and unfold _another._ _Fucking._ _Shirt._ And just leave it, I’m going to fucking shove it down your _throat_.” As soon as the words pass his lips he immediately regrets them. Fear floods this poor customer’s face as his mouth parts, stuttering over words to explain, retaliate, or fight.

Dan watches as this man’s eyes flick about and he backpedals, “I-I mean, that it’s just _really_ , very frustrating to watch customers walk in and undo all the time I’ve put into making this display look nice.”

And for the first time, he hears this stranger speak, and he hates himself for loving it so much, “I’m so sorry, I’m just not very good at folding. It really does just look like a pile of rubbish, I guess. I didn’t know you cared so much about this, I-I’ll just try to get better at it. I’m sorry.”

Dan clears his throat, actually kind of embarrassed at the whole situation and the other employees and customers attention that’s been turned towards them. He smiles and says, “That’s ok. It takes practice.” The customer nods curtly and moves out of the store as quickly as possible.

Since that incident, Dan is sure that this man has returned more often than usual. The next time he returns, Dan refolds a shirt as he watches. The time after that, Dan helps him through a choppy lesson in folding clothes. The visits become more frequent and more casual. They chat about their lives and Dan finds his crush on Phil, the customer’s name he learned a couple weeks ago, developing even further.

“Would you like to go out for a drink sometime?” Phil suggests one day, watching Dan push around a rack of out-of-season shorts. “It’d be a nice change, talking outside of your day job.”

Dan blushes furiously and looks down, feeling like a school girl. “Uh, yea absolutely.”

“Ok, great! I’ll meet you here at the end of your shift?”

“Yea, sounds good.”

_God,_ Dan thinks to himself, _I am so fucked._


End file.
